Morita, Miki set National Records as Japanese Olympic Trials End

TOKYO, April 25. ON the sixth and final day of the Japanese Olympic Trials, two national records were broken, bringing the total to ten for the six day meet.

Immediately after the meet, Japanese officials announced the names of the members of the 2004 Japanese Olympic team.

Day Six began with Tomomi Morita completing his sweep of the national dorsal records for men. With the 100 and 200 meter marks already in his pocket, Morita sprinted to a new Japanese record of 25.68 seconds for 50 meters.

Jiro Miki, still sky-high after his in in the 400 IM, not only smashed the Japanese record over the 200 meters medley, but also dipped under the two-minute barrier with his 1:59.99. It wasn't an easy victory for Miki as he trailed Takahiro Mori by almost a full second at the halfway mark.

But after the turn, he exploded on the breaststroke leg, splitting 34.02 and grabbing a lead he would not relinquish.

"I am so happy," he told SwimInfo. "I was focusing on the latter half of the race. This will be my second Olympic Games and I will do better this time," he vowed.

Second place finisher Mori commented: "I was not selected for Sydney and this time I failed in the 400m IM earlier in the meet. There was a bit of concern oover 'not again.' I lost tonight but the important thing was to get a ticket to Athens. I got it."

With these two Japanese record, the Japanese Olympic Trials ended with a total of 10 new Japanese records.

In the men’s 100m butterfly, Takashi Yamamoto was first in 52.58 seconds, notching his seventh consecutive win in this event. "I was going for a personal best but could not do it," said the national record-holder. "So, I will do so in Athens."

Second place finisher, Ryo Takayasu, did score a personal best of 52.85 seconds but missed an Olympic berth by 0.02 seconds, as the time standard was set at 52.83.

In the women’s 200m backstroke, Reiko Nakamura won in 2.10.18, comfortably adding the double century to her 100 meter win. "Mentally, I was not as positive as in the 100, and this was why I missed breaking the Japanese record. I will show my best performance in Athens," she promised.

After the six day Trials, the Japanese Swimming Federation immediately announced the team roster for the Athens Games. Nine men and 11 women were selected based on the time standards established by the federation.